Thursday, May 01, 2014

Tomytec moving bus system

In my hunt for more information on how the system works (and there are some very good Youtube vids), no one has taken one apart to have a look at the innards. So as we always like to go where fools fear to tread, out with the screwdriver. First up a better picture of the model. 2 LR44 batteries in place.

The steering mechanism is a quite impressive piece of engineering, as it not only steers, but also rocks from side to side so that all 4 wheels are always in contact with the road. The white knob is the on/off switch.

Taking the back panel off we can see the gearing. Nothing else interesting in this bit so its goes back on.

Undoing the screw in the middle of the top and suddenly its all on.

From left to right we have:
- The control chip with a detector unit attached. This picks up magnets in the roadway which can be used to start and stop the bus and change its speed. The square plastic piece holds the detector in place in the chassis.
-The motor bit. Not much that could be changed here.
-The battery holder. It is part of the chassis so would be hard to do away with.
-The steering mechanism. The top piece is the rocking part, and the bottom piece is the steering part.

So, there are some options for altering this. I think it could be shortened with the detector at the back of the chassis and the batteries on top of the chip. This would work better for a delivery truck.

Its an interesting wee beast/and I think that there is a bit of potential to add this to a layout. I already have some thoughts.....

14 comments:

I have had a Tomytec bus starter set for around 18 months with the intention of using it on my N scale Japanese layout. They are releasing a controlled intersection in June which enables stop/go/straight ahead/right turn/left turn. Not all at the same time though. lots of possibilities for NZ120. I have seen a neat video of a small micro layout with a bus climbing up a steepish road on hill and returning back down again after stopping at a bus stop on top. interesting to see your dissection progress!

I just received my new basic set and I wonder if anyone knows of English translated instructions. Once I figure that out I want to modify the length of the unit so it might fit on an (American) bus body.

I have the BM2 Bus engine and took it apart since it did not run after new batteries were put in. One of the metal connectors in the top of the battery holder fell out and I do not know how it should go back in. Are there places that repair these things? Do you have a picture of the battery holder upside down to show the metal contacts installed.?

Just trying to work out which bit you mean. under the battery lid there is a metal clip where the long bit points forward, and it slips betwen the 2 central pilars.the bottom one has a plastic insert that holds the metal tabs in place. I have alosso had success joiggling the wires at the back. to the motor behind the coil. be careful doing this, I'm not sure how solid its all put together.